This past week, while I’ve been stressing out over the rapidly approaching early action and early decision college application deadlines, my mom’s been in France with her parents and her sisters (they’re traveling just like they used to decades ago!). I think it’s the cutest thing ever, and it sure sounds like they’re having a lot of fun.

The thing is, with my mother not around to yell at me to do homework, I’ve been feeling the strong urge to slack off. I’ve always recognized my tendency to procrastinate—”Hmm, I’ve done 5 minutes of homework; I think I deserve a snack”—but I know now that my mom’s not going to be around to crack the whip when I’m in college. So for the past week, I’ve been working really hard to get my work done. I even went so far as to organize my binder, just like my mom asked me to do.

So while I was organizing my binder and all of the loose-leaf notes I’d shoved into my backpack, I came across a bunch of old assignments, some from last year. I remember writing most of them—specifically, I remember putting off writing them until the very last minute and then working furiously to turn them in by the due date. I started working on at least one essay on the day it was due; obviously not a very good idea and not something I should continue to do. It doesn’t help that I get decent grades on them, because then I feel even less motivated to start on them early.

My older readers know that I’m…not the most organized of students. I get sidetracked so easily: the internet is a black hole of distractions, “hunger” is my most frequently used excuse to stop doing work, video games are addicting, and the constant craving to check my text messages keeps me from fully focusing on work. There have even been days when I’ve neglected all of my homework assignments in favor of staring at the ceiling, which I apparently found much more interesting.

Pretty much.

I don’t fail my classes because sure, I can get my act together when I really need to, but it’s not like I’m acing all of my classes, either. It’s a struggle.

I’m sure other people experience this, too—I can’t be the only one, can I?